UK housing recovery lifts Laura Ashley sales June 12, 2014 British fashion and homeware brand Laura Ashley posted a 0.7 per cent rise in like-for-like sales for the first 19 weeks of the year to 8 June as customers kitting out their homes with the retailer’s floral accessories and furnishings. Total sales were down 0.9 per cent as the group closed three stores in the [...]
B&M Retail bags £1.1bn to buck market gloom June 12, 2014 B&M RETAIL yesterday shook off the gloom in the new issues market to debut the biggest stock market flotation in London since Royal Mail. The budget chain, chaired by former Tesco boss Sir Terry Leahy, raised £1.1bn by selling 40 per cent of the company to City investors. Shares rose in informal trading to close [...]
Inside Track: United banking syndicate does a sound job for B&M June 12, 2014 Given that one of the City’s star fund managers said less than three weeks ago that the Saga flotation had “probably killed” the market for further new issues, bankers were mightily relieved yesterday that shares in B&M immediately ticked up nicely in first day trading for the discount retailing group’s shares. So frayed were nerves [...]
Mysale gears up for stock debut on Aim with 226p issue price June 12, 2014 ONLINE fashion site Mysale, part-owned by Sir Philip Green, yesterday priced its forthcoming stock market float at 226p a share. The company, which has plans to launch a website in the UK within weeks, said it would raise £40m from the listing, which would take place on the junior stock market the Alternative Investment Market [...]
Shelf Drilling launching £300m London flotation June 12, 2014 DUBAI-BASED oil rig contractor Shelf Drilling yesterday unveiled its plans to float on the London Stock Exchange, to sell shares worth at least $500m (£297m). The firm, which provides offshore contract drilling services to oil and gas customers, intends to raise $250m from the issue of new shares, while an unspecified amount of shares held [...]
Pets at Home share price falls despite posting jump in maiden earnings June 12, 2014 Pets at Home posted a 12 per cent jump in profits yesterday as it delivered its first set of results since floating on the stock market earlier this year. The company, which provides pet food, toys and accessories, as well as veterinary services across its 377 outlets, floated at 245p in March, giving it a [...]
Sports Direct eyes Cotswold June 12, 2014 SPORTS Direct has joined the bidding for Cotswold Outdoor, as Mike Ashley’s high street retailer looks to the great outdoors again following its unsuccessful bid Blacks Leisure two years ago. The firm is understood to have lodged a bid for Cotswold’s parent company AS Adventure, which owner Lion Capital has put up for sale with [...]
FinnCap chief exec Sam Smith nabs a First Women gong June 12, 2014 “It’s a refreshing change to look out at a room full of women,” Katja Hall, deputy director- general of the CBI, told the crowd at the Lloyds-sponsored First Women Awards last night. “Most of the events I go to are full of white, middle-aged, slightly balding men.” Her boss at the CBI, John Cridland, took [...]
Ships ahoy for Mark Carney at Mansion House Banquet for Bankers June 12, 2014 Mark Carney’s adventurous side came out at the Lord Mayor’s Banquet for Bankers last night in Mansion House. The governor of the Bank of England executed a perfect dive into the white waters of nautical analogies, bravely choosing a canoe as his vessel of choice (so very Canadian). “Rather than appeal to the stately Duchess [...]
Tesla to share its car patents June 12, 2014 ELON Musk, the billionaire entrepreneur behind leading electric car company Tesla and private space travel firm SpaceX, has announced Tesla will allow others to use its intellectual property in hopes of boosting development of electric cars. Musk said on the company’s website that the industry would benefit from open-source sharing of technologies. “If we clear [...]
